377: How to Lead an Offsite, with Tom Henschel

Tom Henschel: The Look & Sound of Leadership
Executive coach Tom Henschel of Essential Communications grooms senior leaders and executive teams. An internationally recognized expert in the field of workplace communications and self-presentation, he has helped thousands of leaders achieve excellence through his work as an executive coach and his top-rated podcast, The Look & Sound of Leadership.
Key Points

An offsite doesn’t have to actually be offsite, but it needs to be treated like it is.
What do you want the team to know that they don’t know now? Or what do you want them to be able to do that they can’t do now?
An offsite is a great way to just talk and have experiences together that you don’t normally have time for.
Really skilled facilitation is an art, not a science.
Think about the why before the what.
A good offsite is the start of a process, not the end of a process.
If the offsite is really productive, it creates more work.
Leaders should adopt the language of the offsite and use it repeatedly so people don’t forget.

Bonus Audio

How to balance fun versus professional in an offsite

Resources Mentioned

Fieldbook of Team Interventions: Step-by-Step Guide to High Performance Teams* by Harry Eggleton and Judy Rice
Liberating Structures
Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators* by Patrick Lencioni
The Thiagi Group
Leading Offsites episode from The Look & Sound of Leadership

Related Episodes

The Four Unique Types of Teams, with Susan Gerke (episode 138)
How to Create Team Guidelines, with Susan Gerke (episode 192)
How to Lead Through Uncertainty and Change, with Jacqueline Farrington (episode 224)

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